Blackwood and production crew preparing to enter film into festivals

From left, actress Amanda Jefferson-Gillis, director of photography Tony DeCoste, actor Norm Ferguson and director Gary Blackwood on the set of the film “The Seer” in Westville. AMY MACKENZIE – THE NEWS

TATAMAGOUCHE – Although it’s a long way off of viewing, post-production for The Seer is going well.

Gary Blackwood, screenwriter and director, says they’re almost done with video editing and will be passing it onto the sound editors soon.

“We’re hoping to be ready to submit to film festivals by April,” he said

The feature-length movie was shot in various locations across Pictou County during the summer.

They can’t show the film publically until after they hear back from festivals.

They plan to submit it to the Edmonton International Film Festival, the Atlantic Film Festival as well as ones in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.

They’re looking to enter it into categories for Canadian feature length films and movies with no budget.

Blackwood noted that many of those categories are for $25,000 or less.

Their budget didn’t come anywhere near that.

They did the entire film for approximately $2,000 out of people’s pockets.

This wouldn’t have been possible if it weren’t for Tony DeCoste’s, director of photography, video and sound equipment.

DeCoste recently shot film stills at the NSCC Pictou campus for them.

Donated locations were also a huge help, Blackwood said.

He said the community was very accommodating.

“They got all excited,” he said, adding that many people were quick to ask what they could do.

The movie had been 20 years in the making.

He wrote the script two decades ago, continuously submitting it and peaking companies’ interest.

Nothing ever came of it until he sent it to FLAWed Productions.

“Sometimes things have to be the right time.”

The last few years have been a good time for Blackwood in getting longstanding projects done.

His recently published book, The Imposter, was another that had been written two decades ago.

He’s also working on an opera from many years ago.

Blackwood is hoping to screen the movie by the end of the year, with a early showing for those who contributed to it.

amanda.jess@ngnews.ca

On Twitter: @NGNewsAmanda

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